The Seoul Central District Court has dismissed claims by Lee Seung Gi’s former agency that it overpaid the actor. Read more to learn about the history and verdict of the case. Actor and singer Lee Seung Gi is involved in a legal dispute with his former agency, Hook Entertainment (now known as Green Snake Entertainment), over unpaid settlement fees.
Both parties claim that the other party owes them a large amount of money . The dispute that began in November 2022 finally reached its peak today, on April 4, 2025, as reported by K-media outlet Star News. The court ruled in favor of the actor and ordered the agency to pay the royalty amount with additional interest.
The Seoul Central District Court's 20th Civil Contract Division delivered the verdict on the 2.5-year-long case, stating, "Chorokbaement (Green Snake) Entertainment must pay Lee Seung Gi 581,377,421 won and defer the interest." The case began when singer Lee Seung Gi publicly accused Chorokbaement Entertainment of not paying him music royalties for nearly two decades.
He took formal action by sending a certified letter to the agency, demanding full settlement of his unpaid wages accrued during his 18-year tenure with the company. As a result, the management company paid the actor 540 million KRW, including 130 million KRW in previous payments, 290 million KRW in unpaid fees, and 120 million KRW in pending interest.
However, in a surprising reversal, the company later claimed to have overpaid the My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho actor by 900 million KRW in advertising revenue and demanded reimbursement. Lee Seung Gi's legal team responded with newly revealed records, which reveal that the actual amount of unpaid royalties is 9.6 billion KRW.
That meant that Green Snake Entertainment still owed the actor an additional 300 million KRW, further fueling the dispute. Later, their dispute was taken to court, and after an investigation, the management company's claims were declared groundless.
The Seoul court ruling stated, “All remaining claims of Chorokbaement Entertainment for compensation and restitution are rejected.” Since the case began to be heard and gained public attention, entertainment agencies needed to disclose the income settlement to their artists. With that in mind, a new bill dubbed the Lee Seung Gi Act was passed in South Korea in September 2024.
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